Jazz may have birthed out of slavery but over the years it has taken on many
forms. While some say jazz is difficult to define, most agree its key component
is improvisation. A music that took shape from the repetitive call and response
hollers of African American slaves working on plantations to embody their
blues, jazz has grown into a force to be reckoned with. Eventually, Dixieland jazz was conceived in New
Orleans , and then the swing era brought in the big bands,
although later bebop shifted the music back to small groups. Cords and rhythms changed offering freedom of
composition as various harmonies and rhythms developed that defined the altering
styles that denote jazz as a truly American creative art form defying
boundaries.
On Saturday, June 28th at
“When I established the Jazz Forum back in 1979, which is
almost 35 years to the date of the June 28th show, it was to create
opportunities for musicians who at the time weren’t playing many gigs in more
established clubs like the Village Vanguard, Fat Tuesday’s or Sweet Basil which
were booking the likes of Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey and the Jazz
Messengers and major artists like that.
When I first opened, I started off with trumpeter Dizzy Reece the first
weekend and booked Clifford Jordan the second week. Before long I had jazz going 7 nights a week,
a Sunday Singer’s Brunch and even had Barry Harris conducting a jazz workshop
at the loft that contained the Jazz Forum for 3 years before we moved to a
bigger loft on Bleecker Street.,” recalled Mark who later established Jazz
Forum Arts.
The monies from the show will help benefit Morganelli 33 free concerts in 6 venues on Wednesday evenings in Dobbs Ferry and a show in Tarrytown on a 67 acre site for 8 Thursday evenings in July and August. He does a musical series at Pierson Park on Fridays in August, as well as shows in White Plains, Greenwich, CT and at John Jay College in NYC. Interested parties can find out more about these show by visiting www.jazzforumarts.org
"I am delighted to participate in the Jazz Forum at 35! event," said T.S. Monk. "You know financially a career in show business does not leave individuals, especially jazz professionals much to lean on because they are farther down on the financial ladder. There is a misconception that fame comes with great wealth. This is show business. People see the show but they do not see the business. The business is tough and will continue to be tough. On the positive side, Mark through the Jazz Forum, has been a launch pad for so many great artists with many wonderful evenings at the loft. There were so many great events at the Jazz Forum it is difficult to isolate on particular evening. There is a great deal of room for so many wonderful memories," stated the famed drummer/vocalist/composer.
A child of the 1960s, T.S. Monk was a young jazz musician of the 1970s. As jazz clubs diminished in numbers there was no place for jazz musicians to work. "We played the boogaloo gigs which were basically R&B gigs. It was the infusion of the young jazz musicians that created the classic era that culminated with bands like Earth Wind and Fire. The music expanded exponentially as the result of Herbie Hancock bringing the electric piano to the music, the likes of Wes Montgomery bringing a whole new kind of rhythm sound and by the harmonic innovations created by the likes of my father, Thelonious Monk. The most influential period of jazz on American music actually came during that period some believe was the dead period for jazz," continued Monk who started his career as an R&B artist during the period that jazz artists found work in jazz scarce. T.S. Monk's most recent recording is entitled Verbiest and Monk, Father and Son.
Tickets for Jazz Forum at 35! on Saturday, June 28th can be purchased at the NYU Skirball Center Shagan Box Office by calling 866-811-4111. For additional information on Jazz Forum Arts call 888-99-BEBOP or visit www,jazzforumarts.org
A child of the 1960s, T.S. Monk was a young jazz musician of the 1970s. As jazz clubs diminished in numbers there was no place for jazz musicians to work. "We played the boogaloo gigs which were basically R&B gigs. It was the infusion of the young jazz musicians that created the classic era that culminated with bands like Earth Wind and Fire. The music expanded exponentially as the result of Herbie Hancock bringing the electric piano to the music, the likes of Wes Montgomery bringing a whole new kind of rhythm sound and by the harmonic innovations created by the likes of my father, Thelonious Monk. The most influential period of jazz on American music actually came during that period some believe was the dead period for jazz," continued Monk who started his career as an R&B artist during the period that jazz artists found work in jazz scarce. T.S. Monk's most recent recording is entitled Verbiest and Monk, Father and Son.
Tickets for Jazz Forum at 35! on Saturday, June 28th can be purchased at the NYU Skirball Center Shagan Box Office by calling 866-811-4111. For additional information on Jazz Forum Arts call 888-99-BEBOP or visit www,jazzforumarts.org
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